President Trump signs executive orders in Oval Office

[0:00] to produce a quantum computer capable of performing important scientific calculations [0:06] and to develop quantum-enabled sensors and networks in the next five years. [0:11] And we're going to be investing in American quantum leadership like never before [0:15] to stay ahead of the pack. We're way ahead right now. We'll keep it that way. [0:19] The second order I'm signing directs federal agencies to transition to what is called quantum cryptography. [0:27] Do anybody know what that is? You're going to hear very soon, so you're going to find it interesting. [0:34] Cryptography for their computer systems by 2031 and to lead the way for a wider adoption of these [0:41] extremely strong security standards. America is celebrating 250 years of ingenuity, innovation, [0:49] and invention this year, and today's commitments to quantum leadership will help secure that legacy [0:54] for decades to come. I just want to say before we introduce a couple of the people, we're doing [1:01] very well with respect to the Armut Strait. We took in more oil yesterday than has ever gone through [1:08] the strait. You probably see that. We have an oil gusher. The strait is totally open. [1:14] You know that. And we're negotiating. We'll see how that all goes. But we have two things. [1:21] We have an open strait, and we have a country that will never have a nuclear weapon. We'll never, [1:25] ever have a nuclear weapon. So now I'd like to invite Michael Kratios, director of the Office of [1:31] Science and Technology Policy, to say a few words, followed by National Cyber Director Sean [1:38] Karen Cross and Secretary Wright, who's doing a fantastic job over in Venezuela and every place [1:45] else he touches. Venezuela, by the way, has been amazing. We are really having a great relationship [1:52] with that country, taking out tremendous amounts of oil, far, far more than that particular war [1:58] cost, many, many times, sending it to Houston, sending it to Louisiana, sending it to lots of places. [2:05] And Venezuela is also doing well. Venezuela is doing better than it's done, and maybe ever. [2:10] So it's been an amazing situation. Where did you ever hear of getting money back from the war [2:18] by 42 times over? Right, Pete? Nobody does that. And I think Iran, I can say, on sort of a different [2:27] scale, is in its own way working out very well. Maybe, it's hard to say just as well, but maybe [2:32] almost just as well. And we're doing very well in terms of negotiating a fair and reasonable deal. [2:40] One of the things that we are doing also, and it came up last night, is money that's being unfrozen [2:46] is going to be used to buy food, and the food's going to be bought exclusively through the United [2:51] States from our farmers. And corn, soybeans, all of the things they need are going to be bought [2:57] from our farmers. So our farmers are very happy. I've had a lot of calls. They were very happy about [3:03] that. So now I'd like to ask Michael, say a few words, and I will follow up by the other two [3:09] gentlemen, three gentlemen, and then if anybody has anything to say, and we'll take some questions [3:14] at the end. So Michael, go ahead. So Mr. President, as you mentioned your remarks, [3:18] you were the first president in history to prioritize quantum as a scientific priority [3:22] for the United States government in your first administration. And since then, there's been [3:26] a big leap in the investment the private sector has made in this particular domain. And we're [3:31] now at the moment where a lot of that research is starting to pay off into commercial applications. [3:35] And what this executive order will do is turbocharge that. First and foremost, it's going to [3:40] task the Department of Energy to create a scientifically relevant quantum computer, [3:45] which is going to help pave the way for even larger computers for the private sector. [3:50] Secondly, we're going to be focusing on sensors and networking. So agencies like the Department [3:54] of War, along with the Department of Energy, are going to be doing a wide variety of sensing [3:57] and networking work. So this is a big step forward. And as one of our two top science [4:02] technology priorities, we're excited to kick things off today. [4:05] Good. Thank you very much. Good job, Michael. Sean, please. [4:10] Yeah, thank you, sir. You continue to be the most forward-leaning president in innovation [4:16] in American history. [4:17] Is that all? [4:18] That's necessary. But no. And while you recognize the tremendous potential quantum has [4:28] to advance medical research and cryptography and improve the lives of American people, you [4:34] also recognize the security implications. As quantum rolls forward, it will challenge public [4:41] key cryptography, which is what secures everything. It secures our financial transactions, our civilian [4:48] critical infrastructure, and it secures the digital systems that Americans rely on for their daily [4:53] life. And these two executive orders, which pair innovation and security, will address those [5:01] issues. As we move forward, innovation and security have to be balanced. You recognize that. The actions [5:10] that you take today will make sure that American systems are trusted and secure and safe moving forward. [5:17] And I just want to thank our tremendous American companies with whom we've been working so closely. [5:22] I think it's fair to say we have an unprecedented relationship in this. I want to thank our [5:26] colleagues in the interagency who have been tremendous. It's such a mission-focused group [5:31] of people. And obviously, none of this happens, sir, without your leadership. So you're securing [5:37] our systems for generations to come. Thank you. [5:39] And you've done a great job. All of you have, actually. Chris Wright, please. [5:44] Yes. Thank you, Mr. President. So 120, 141 years ago, Albert Einstein, 121 years ago, [5:52] Albert Einstein published a paper on the photoelectric effect, recognizing the quantum behavior of light [6:08] light, that it came in quanta. 40 years after that, President Trump's uncle, John Trump, was a pioneer in applying light radiation and the reflections of it to develop radar at the MIT Radiation Lab, critical in D-Day, critical in the end in winning World War II. [6:27] That's the parallel of quantum innovation. 40 years after that, John Martinez, down there, pioneered taking quantum effects and building them into a device to capture that behavior. [6:41] He was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics just last year for that discovery, that breakthrough. [6:46] But 40 years, quantum phenomena are tough to harvest and tough to work with. [6:51] But here we are, thanks to President Trump's leadership in the first term with Director Kratios, to launch a major national effort on quantum. [6:59] This is taking it to the next level. The future of computing is going to be a three-legged stool. [7:05] It's high-performance computing, basically Moore's law in semiconductor manufacturing. [7:09] It's artificial intelligence that everyone's seeing and hearing about that's supercharging it. [7:14] The third leg of that computing stool is going to be scientifically relevant quantum computing. [7:21] This is tricky. We're not there yet. We're close. [7:24] But with this executive order and this coordinated effort, we will have scientifically relevant, meaning error-corrected, quantum computing during this administration. [7:34] The impacts of it will be tremendous. [7:37] Just, if I might, so with respect to the Strait, Hormuz Strait, a lot of oil pouring out, right? [7:46] A lot of oil pouring out. Despite Iran's efforts or pushback, we are flowing oil through the Strait of Hormuz and natural gas at pre-crisis levels. [7:55] We could get to above that. We will get to above that. [7:57] But things today are going very well, thanks to the U.S. military and Pete Hegseth down the line here. [8:03] And two days ago, we set a record, most ever taken out of the Strait. It's pent up, but it's a record. [8:10] Did you know of my uncle at all? [8:12] No, no. [8:14] You didn't? [8:15] No. [8:16] Sorry. [8:16] I don't think. [8:18] You missed a good bit. [8:19] I'm at Berkeley and MIT. [8:21] Well, but MIT's fine. [8:22] I want to introduce it. [8:25] Howard, you want to say something? [8:26] So you're accelerating quantum with the CEO, pushing, continuing to push America forward. [8:34] Now, I have the honor that John Martinez was a member of the Commerce Department at NIST and is a Nobel Prize winning alum, which is, if you don't think the people in the Commerce Department and in NIST are the best, [8:49] I mean, here's an example, Nobel Prize winner was part of our team. You all know that the government invested $2 billion just a couple of weeks ago in quantum to drive it forward. [9:01] And besides investing in the companies, we've also invested in fabs to build quantum for others so we can manufacture these quantum in America. [9:12] Now, you have Ruth Porat from Alphabet. They are doing amazing investing in building quantum. And you have Arvind right next from IBM. We invested in his fab. He's got a leading fab. So he's going to be building those chips, right? So that's that idea. [9:28] And then lastly, post-quantum cryptography, right? Once you have quantum chips, we've got to protect everyone in this government, post-quantum cryptography. [9:38] So NIST and the Department of Commerce is going to lead the charge to make sure all of us are protected and defended so we know how to deal with quantum. [9:49] When it comes, we're going to lead in quantum and we're going to make sure we stay safe. And these are both the things you're signing today. [9:55] And that's why you have such an amazing team behind you because you are leading the charge in quantum for America. [10:01] And Ruth, would you like to say something? [10:03] Well, thank you. First, thank you so much for convening us for this important meeting and these two executive orders. [10:08] We completely agree. Quantum is a breakthrough of critical technology. The U.S. is in the lead. We will stay in the lead. [10:14] At Google, we're really proud of our innovations. And thank you, Secretary Lutnik. [10:18] We've been investing for more than a decade in quantum. [10:22] And back in 2019, we were the first company actually to achieve quantum supremacy. [10:27] Didn't stop there. About a year and a half ago, we unveiled a new chip, the Willow chip, [10:33] which is a great example of American innovation manufactured here in the United States. [10:39] And what the Willow chip does, it enabled us to do a computation in less than five minutes [10:45] that previously, on the best supercomputer, would have taken 10 septillion years, [10:50] which is one with 25 zeros. [10:52] So it's a lot. [10:52] That's pretty good. [10:53] It's a lot. [10:54] And what's exciting about this is what it means for our children and grandchildren. [10:57] It's about medical breakthroughs, nuclear fusion, material science. [11:02] So we're really excited about the opportunity. [11:04] And then also around post-quantum cryptography and the work that we're doing there. [11:11] Absolutely critical that we also keep America safe, everyone safe. [11:14] So we have been deploying that across our products and services, and it's a critical opportunity. [11:19] I think with these two EOs, it lays the foundation for, one, protecting America, [11:24] as well as continuing to benefit on the upside. [11:27] It's great to be here. [11:28] Thank you. [11:29] Say hello to everybody. [11:30] Arvind, please. [11:31] IBM. [11:32] So first, I'd like to thank the president for both of these EOs. [11:36] The role of the government is often underestimated. [11:40] The role of the government in pushing innovation and technology forward is what both of these [11:44] will achieve. [11:46] Asking for the investment in quantum computing, asking that the departments all work together [11:51] will actually accelerate what industry does, because that gives us the confidence to invest [11:56] even more, and that is what we commit to do to get these systems out and to get what [12:02] both the secretaries asked for, to get the systems out during your current term. [12:09] So we will go and invest in doing that, and I'd also like to thank Commerce for the investment [12:13] they made in accelerating the ability to build fabs so that we can actually make these in [12:19] America. [12:20] Good. [12:21] Thank you very much. [12:22] Would you like to say something, Russell, about how well we're doing on the budget and [12:26] things? [12:26] Well, we're going through tons of progress. [12:28] I think last year you had the most fiscally consequential year in history, a story that's [12:34] largely been unwritten, but today this is about- [12:37] They don't want to write it. [12:37] They don't want to write it. [12:38] It's true. [12:40] Go ahead. [12:40] More savings- [12:41] You might as well say it, because they won't. [12:42] More savings than ever before in history. [12:45] Today's about the investments that we're going to prioritize. [12:48] So we'll save in places, but we're going to do what's necessary to invest in the future [12:52] and industries of the future. [12:53] That's what today's about. [12:55] Quantum is one of those areas in the first term and now in the second term. [12:59] Okay. [12:59] Thank you. [13:00] Thank you, everybody. [13:01] Any questions, please? [13:02] Well, I'm going to have to find out exactly the status. [13:12] But if the sanctions go out, money's going to be put into this country. [13:17] All that money's coming back in the form of purchases of food, which they desperately need. [13:23] They have 91 million people. [13:24] They can't feed them. [13:26] So the money that we lift is going to go to our farmers, largely to our farmers. [13:31] Can you ensure that the Iranians won't use profits from oil sales to rebuild their military? [13:36] Well, they're not supposed to be doing that, so we'll see. [13:38] But they're supposed to use money to buy food for their people, because right now their people [13:42] are very hungry, and they're buying it exclusively from us. [13:47] Corn, soybeans. [13:49] It should be a lot of money. [13:50] I hope it's a lot of money. [13:51] If the war with Iran could cause a worldwide depression, as you noted, Mr. President, [13:57] are you willing to risk economic catastrophe and strike Iran again? [14:00] Well, not the way I'm doing it. [14:01] It's not going to cause depression. [14:03] Yes, but if they don't abide by the memorandum of understanding. [14:05] Well, nuclear weapon supersedes depression. [14:09] Depression's real bad. [14:10] Nuclear weapon will cause depression much more quickly. [14:15] The way we're doing it, we have the opposite of a depression. [14:18] We're doing really well. [14:21] The numbers are incredible. [14:24] The oil is at a level that nobody's ever seen before. [14:27] Oil prices are way down. [14:29] I think they're very comparable to what they were. [14:31] Chris, I don't know, are pretty comparable to what they were before we started. [14:35] They've returned most of the way back down. [14:37] Yeah. [14:37] I know. [14:38] So if Iran does not abide by the MOU, are you still willing for drugs? [14:44] What I didn't say it would cause a depression. [14:46] I said it could cause a depression, right? [14:49] And they said that I don't want to be Herbert Hoover. [14:53] That's a president I don't want to be because he, you know, he was in charge during the Great Depression. [15:00] And certainly a lot of bad things could happen. [15:03] That would be one of the things. [15:04] I don't think it would, but if it did. [15:06] But no, if Iran doesn't live up to their agreement or if they're not behaving, I will do what I have to do. [15:15] Does that give them leverage, the Iranians' leverage over you? [15:20] Oh, you're so leverage. [15:22] You know, their Navy is gone. [15:27] Their Air Force is gone. [15:29] Their leaders are all dead. [15:31] Their whole country's a mess. [15:33] Their economy is shot. [15:35] The, you know, the Times, the fake New York Times said, oh, it's about the same as it was four months ago. [15:40] No, four months ago they had a Navy, 159 ships to be exact. [15:44] It's gone. [15:45] The whole Navy's gone. [15:47] Their 250 airplanes, all gone. [15:50] Their anti-aircraft is gone. [15:54] Their radar is gone. [15:55] These guys love radar. [15:56] Their radar is gone. [15:58] Everything's gone. [15:59] Their leaders are gone. [16:01] Their whole country is gone. [16:03] And the Times said, oh, they're about the same as they were four months ago. [16:07] The reason the news is doing so badly, or let's put it another way, the reason that I won in a landslide, [16:14] even though I got 92% negative press, all fake press, is because nobody believes the press anymore. [16:22] And they have to start believing. [16:24] You know, when the Times and a couple of others, they're grasping for stress. [16:30] When they say that Iran is about the same as it was four months ago, they had a powerful Navy, they had a powerful Air Force. [16:37] You know, most of their missiles are gone. [16:39] Most of their launching pads are gone. [16:41] Most of their manufacturing capacity for drones and missiles is gone. [16:46] About 87% gone. [16:48] And then I hear, oh, they're in such great shape. [16:53] No, they're gone. [16:54] And their first level of leaders, gone. [16:58] Their second level of leaders, gone. [17:01] Their third level of leaders, you have to hear the conversations. [17:05] Who wants to be president? [17:07] I don't want it. [17:08] Nobody wants to be president. [17:09] And then we have to read that they're doing well. [17:13] They're doing so badly. [17:14] In the meantime, we're setting records. [17:16] We have the strongest economy we've ever had. [17:19] We have 18 to 19 trillion dollars being poured into our country. [17:23] We're building factories all over the place. [17:26] We have more people working today than at any time in the history of our country at higher salaries. [17:32] So when you ask a question like that, it's so stupid. [17:36] Mr. President, here's another beauty. [17:39] What's this one? [17:40] Is it real beauty? [17:41] Go ahead. [17:42] The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his forces are not leaving Lebanon. [17:46] That is a sticking point. [17:47] Who did he tell that to you? [17:49] He said it publicly in Israel. [17:51] Well, we're going to take a look at it. [17:52] Well, what would you do to make sure that he knows he's sabotaging you? [17:53] Well, I'm not going to tell you what I'm going to do, but it gets solved. [17:56] I'm a problem solver. [17:57] I get problems solved real fast, including with Bibi. [18:00] Go ahead. [18:01] Thank you, Mr. President. [18:02] Thank you. [18:03] What's the latest you've heard from the vice president? [18:04] Are you happy with his negotiations? [18:06] Yeah. [18:07] Can you share a little bit about what Secretary Rubio will be doing in the Middle East this [18:10] week? [18:10] I think that they're doing a fantastic job. [18:13] Our secretary is fantastic. [18:15] I think he's maybe going to go down as the best ever. [18:17] And I thought J.D. Vance this morning was fantastic. [18:20] I watched his news conference. [18:22] And from Switzerland, he's a very smart guy. [18:26] He did a great job. [18:27] You know, when I look at the Democrats, I call them the Democrats, the Democrats. [18:32] When I watched that, where one of them thought it was World War 11, she said World War 11. [18:39] She went to World War 2. [18:40] You know about that. [18:41] But this is one of their potential leaders, Ilhan Omar, who married her brother to get into [18:46] the country, by the way, illegally. [18:47] But when I watch AOC, have no idea what a simple question, what happened when she was over in [18:57] Switzerland, which she probably never went there before, but she was, and then I watched [19:01] somebody like J.D. or Marco. [19:04] What a, I said, what a difference. [19:06] What a difference. [19:07] What a difference a brain makes. [19:09] Mr. President, the candidate, do you endorse your colleagues? [19:11] Sir, you've been quite critical of Prime Minister Starmer, and he's now resigned. [19:14] Your thoughts, and who would you like to see as the next Prime Minister of the UK? [19:18] I was critical only for this, because I think he's a lovely man, but I said, you're really [19:22] messing up energy. [19:23] You have windmills all over the place. [19:24] In the meantime, you have the North Sea oil, and they won't let anybody drill. [19:29] It's one of the great fields in the world, and they haven't even found most. [19:33] You know that the UK buys much of its energy. [19:38] You know where? [19:39] Norway. [19:40] You know where they get their oil? [19:41] The North Sea. [19:42] The UK has a much better portion of the North Sea. [19:45] They don't want to do it for environmental purposes, okay? [19:48] And I told him, he's a very nice man. [19:50] I mean, he's sort of a friend of mine. [19:51] I mean, he was not good to us with NATO people, right? [19:54] He said, we can't use the island to land. [19:56] That was a first for a couple of weeks. [19:59] He said, well, but ultimately, I gave it to you now. [20:01] That was a bad move. [20:02] That hurt him badly. [20:03] But, I mean, I wish him well. [20:06] But he's got two problems, energy and immigration, and crime. [20:12] But energy and immigration. [20:13] You know, he's really hurt himself very, very badly. [20:18] Please go. [20:19] Mr. President, can you tell us about your meeting with the defense contractors on Wednesday and what you plan to tell them? [20:24] The meeting coming up, because I've met with them before. [20:27] We're building plants all over the country. [20:31] They are not allowed to take any more stock buybacks. [20:34] Do you do stock buybacks by any chance? [20:36] Not too much, right? [20:37] No, because he wants to invest in product. [20:39] It's just an artificial way of raising a price if you're running a bad company. [20:43] So, they spent $51 billion on stock buybacks instead of spending them on plants. [20:51] Now they're spending – they can't do that anymore. [20:54] Now they are spending a lot of money. [20:55] We're building many plants throughout the country. [20:59] They're dealing with General Motors. [21:01] They're dealing with Ford. [21:01] But I know General Motors is all excited about building weapons now. [21:06] They have some plants which are going to switch over. [21:09] We're going to build weapons, including the Patriot, including the Tomahawk and lots of other things. [21:15] And we're in a big – we're in a big, strong economic push to do the weapons. [21:22] And some of the car companies, if they have any excess capacity, they're making a deal to build missiles. [21:29] And the Patriot, in particular, we have – we have quite a few of them, but we want to make sure we have always a lot of them. [21:37] Mr. President of Colombia, the candidate – the candidate, did you endorse this? [21:40] Mr. President, thank you, Mr. President. [21:41] Congratulations on the quantum physics EO to all of you. [21:44] Thank you. [21:44] Vice President Vance said that there are mechanisms in place to make sure that there's not escalations with the Strait of Hormuz and with Israel and Lebanon. [21:52] Can you talk about what those mechanisms are? [21:54] And are you in direct talks with the Strait of Hormuz? [21:56] Well, yeah, look, look, here's the thing. [21:59] As long as they respect us – I don't want to use the word fear because that's an inappropriate word – but as long as they respect us, we're not going to have any trouble. [22:08] We have total control of the Strait. [22:10] So the mechanism – [22:11] You know, we have a Navy that had a blockade. [22:14] I think the blockade was more impactful than dropping bombs, if you want to know the truth. [22:18] It was, like I said, they call it the steel wall. [22:20] Nobody got through. [22:21] But not one ship got through, able to go to Iran. [22:24] They got through if we wanted them to go through. [22:27] And we could set that up again in about 15 minutes. [22:30] I would say, Pete, one phone call – how long would it take? [22:33] Maybe a half hour? [22:34] They're ready to go right now if you need to. [22:36] Before we finish the meeting. [22:39] No, we have – as long as they respect us, we're going to be fine. [22:44] If they don't respect us, things wouldn't be good. [22:47] But they have a lot of respect. [22:48] Don't forget, we had presidents that should have done this for 47 years. [22:51] Nobody did it. [22:53] Obama gave them a road to a nuclear weapon. [22:55] I gave them a wall against a nuclear weapon. [22:58] They can never – under this agreement, they'll never even think about building a nuclear weapon. [23:03] Mr. President, on Colombia, they can't – [23:05] Oh, El Tigre. [23:06] El Tigre, yeah. [23:07] El Tigre, yeah. [23:07] We know that you had a phone call. [23:08] I endorsed him. [23:09] He was in 10th place. [23:10] I endorsed him, and he won the election. [23:12] Yeah. [23:13] Surprise. [23:14] No different than this country. [23:16] You had a phone conversation with El Tigre. [23:18] I did. [23:18] I had a great call. [23:19] What can you tell us about that phone conversation? [23:21] And what did you see? [23:22] What did you anticipate? [23:23] You're from Colombia, I see? [23:24] Yes, sir. [23:24] I'm from Colombia. [23:25] So he called – he called me last night, and he thanked me for the endorsement. [23:29] He won. [23:29] He won the election. [23:30] He wasn't anticipated to win, but he won, and he won handily. [23:36] It's just an honor. [23:37] He was just a good man. [23:39] I'd watch him a little bit speak, and he always – you know, when people like me, I like them. [23:45] It's very simple. [23:45] It's a very simple formula, and I like them. [23:48] He said really nice things about me and the job we've done in the United States, and very, very powerful. [23:56] And he won an election in Colombia that – I don't know. [24:00] Some people were surprised because he was a little bit further down the pack, but he won easily last night. [24:06] He won by – he called me at 8.30 in the evening just to thank me very much. [24:10] And I said, you ran a great campaign. [24:13] He's El Tigre, right? [24:14] Yeah, yeah. [24:15] And what do you anticipate for the relation with Colombia? [24:18] Much better. [24:19] It'll be better. [24:20] He's going to be a great president. [24:22] Mr. President. [24:22] Mr. President. [24:23] Mr. President. [24:23] Mr. President. [24:24] Are the contractors who did the initial work for the reflecting pool, are they sublime for the current condition? [24:29] Or is it the vandalism? [24:30] Mr. President. [24:31] No, no. [24:32] We had vandalism. [24:33] We have a hundred and – we have a, I think, two hundred and ninety, three hundred foot slit right through it. [24:39] Probably a box cutter or a knife of some kind. [24:42] We had people lifting up the basic – some of the – it's not a lot of damage, but it's – we'll probably have to let the water out and refix it. [24:51] They went in there with a knife. [24:55] I was just told by the people over at Parks, they have – five people are arrested and five people are under investigation right now. [25:05] And it's a sad thing. [25:06] In addition to that, they – you know, we put brand new beautiful grass all around. [25:11] They put these massive letters on the grass. [25:14] You probably know about that, right? [25:16] And they said 86, 47. [25:19] They probably got that from the dirty cop, Comey. [25:22] You know he's a dirty cop, don't you? [25:24] Dirty cop. [25:25] He's a crooked guy. [25:26] They destroyed the grass. [25:28] So that's a big thing. [25:30] But we're going to get it back very soon. [25:32] National Guard and police have been all over the mall. [25:35] How would these vandals have gotten so close to do something like that? [25:40] Do you have any proof of a slit? [25:41] I mean, we didn't have – we didn't have a lot of them then. [25:43] Who would think that somebody would go into a pool and take a knife and start cutting it? [25:47] Do you have proof of that? [25:48] Yeah, yeah, we have proof. [25:49] Do you have photos or videos? [25:50] Well, let's put it this way. [25:51] When you have a 350 – I think it's 350, not 250 – a 350-foot slit from one end to the other? [25:59] You think that's proof? [26:00] You think that's proof? [26:01] The boys have been down there today looking for that slit that you mentioned, and there's no evidence of it. [26:05] What you'd have to do is see the Parks requirement. [26:07] I'll show it to you. [26:08] See the Secretary. [26:11] But I saw it. [26:13] They cut it. [26:14] They cut it very violently. [26:16] The same thing with the floor. [26:17] They cut it. [26:18] And then they lifted it. [26:19] They pulled it. [26:20] And that's what it is. [26:23] And, you know, we've done over 50 monuments. [26:26] Number one, we start with – this is now a safe city. [26:29] It's as safe a city as you're going to get in the country. [26:32] And when I came here, it was a very dangerous city. [26:36] And number two, what we did is the beautification with the parks and the grass and the removal of all the tents. [26:43] And this is like a different place. [26:45] One of the things we did is over 50 fountains and statues, most of which were in horrible shape. [26:52] All of them were bad, but some were just absolutely horrible. [26:55] Graffiti, you couldn't even see the stone. [26:57] They've all been fixed. [26:58] We also fixed the reflecting pool. [27:02] In fact, if you go over there right now, it looks very good. [27:05] It's up. [27:06] They put – somebody said fertilizer in the water. [27:09] If you put fertilizer in the water, you get algae. [27:11] But somebody said they might have put fertilizer. [27:14] They did something to create the algae. [27:15] But that doesn't matter because that's been purified. [27:21] It's dead. [27:22] Laying at the bottom, they're taking it out. [27:24] They vacuum it out. [27:25] They vacuum it very carefully out. [27:27] And it'll be back to health pretty soon. [27:30] We're going to have to let the water out to fix the one little – there's two little areas, very little areas where they were cut. [27:35] And we'll fix that, but it's not leaking or anything. [27:39] It's got a base underneath. [27:41] Part of what's curious about this situation is we stood here with you in April when you first revealed the plans. [27:47] I said what? [27:48] In April, you showed us pictures of what you were going to do at the pool, and you said you had a guy who was going to do it in a week for about a million dollars. [27:55] It's been two months, $16.5 million. [27:57] Okay, ready? [27:58] Barack Hussein Obama, have you ever heard of him? [28:00] Yes. [28:01] He spent two years and over $100 million when trying to fix it. [28:06] You know what happened to it? [28:07] Never even opened. [28:08] Correct. [28:09] He took the water from the river. [28:10] You know about that, right? [28:11] It turned out to be putrid, and it destroyed the whole thing. [28:14] Spent over $100 million. [28:16] Him and Biden together spent $147 million. [28:20] You know what happened? [28:21] Never opened. [28:22] You don't mention that, right? [28:23] We spent about $10 million. [28:26] Much of the money we spent are park workers. [28:28] They're there whether they do this or not, as you know. [28:31] They work in the park, and they're very good workers. [28:33] They did a great job. [28:35] So they were going to spend $300 million to $400 million. [28:39] You know that. [28:40] And it was going to take four years. [28:42] I spent about six, seven weeks. [28:48] And I spent probably, in terms of outside, probably $10 million. [28:54] Around $10 million. [28:55] They say $16 million. [28:56] But a lot of those workers that work for the same thing. [28:59] So they were going to spend $400 million. [29:01] I spent $10 million. [29:03] They were going to spend four years. [29:05] I spent two months, maybe, less. [29:09] And I have a better product. [29:12] You know, I can't help it if somebody goes in with a knife and starts hacking it up. [29:17] And we also have pictures of it. [29:18] You know, we have pictures. [29:19] Can you release the photos? [29:20] We've been asking for that. [29:21] Yeah, at the right time you'll see it. [29:22] You'll see it in court. [29:24] You'll see it in court. [29:25] But all you have to do is call the Parks Department. [29:27] Call the Department of Interior. [29:29] And I don't know if their lawyers will allow you to speak to them. [29:32] Because, you know, you write fake news. [29:34] But call the Interior Department. [29:37] And I understand they've arrested five people. [29:40] And they have another five people that are under investigation. [29:43] Here's the bottom line. [29:45] We made so much progress in this city. [29:49] People don't even recognize it. [29:50] By the way, Memphis, Tennessee. [29:52] Crime is down 78% in a matter of months. [29:56] It was a hellhole. [29:57] New Orleans, crime is down 79%. [30:01] And they had Mardi Gras. [30:04] It was the safest Mardi Gras they've had in 50 years. [30:07] The governor called me. [30:08] Governor Landry called me. [30:09] Safest Mardi Gras they've had in... [30:11] And by the way, Chicago, which is a shooting field right now. [30:14] If the governor would call me, Governor Pritzker would call me, [30:17] I would solve the Chicago problem in three, four months. [30:22] You'd have virtually a crime-free city. [30:25] We'll remove all of the bad ones. [30:28] You have criminals. [30:29] You have career criminals that came in through the border [30:31] because of Sleepy Joe Biden. [30:32] You ever hear of Sleepy Joe Biden? [30:34] Do you ever hear of him? [30:35] He let people come into this country, [30:37] and we can never forget that that happened. [30:40] Guys like you should never forget that that happened. [30:44] They were murderers, drug dealers, mental patients. [30:47] They took them out of prisons. [30:49] They took them out of mental institutions. [30:52] You should never forget that that happened. [30:55] Mr. President, you're meeting... [30:57] Mr. President, you're meeting... [30:58] Let's leave on a nicer note. [30:59] You were meeting with NATO's Mark Rutte on Wednesday. [31:03] Good. [31:04] You had Secretary Hegseth review U.S. presence in NATO countries. [31:07] I did. [31:08] Yeah. [31:09] Talk to us about that conversation. [31:10] Are you planning on drawing down the U.S. troops? [31:11] Well, look, look. [31:12] NATO. [31:13] It's NATO, basically, the question. [31:14] So, we have been a great member of NATO. [31:19] The, in many ways, certainly the predominant member. [31:24] We paid trillions of dollars over the years. [31:26] Not billions, trillions over the years to protect Europe. [31:29] When we wanted to know... [31:32] I didn't need... [31:33] We didn't need any help at all. [31:35] I was more curious than anything else. [31:37] So I said to Pete, let's see if they'd actually come. [31:39] So we asked them to come, and they weren't there for us. [31:42] So we spent... [31:43] It's stupid that they weren't. [31:44] By the way, Starmer wasn't there. [31:46] And you know what? [31:47] The people of the U.K. did not like it that he wasn't there. [31:50] Starmer said no. [31:52] Starmer said worse than no. [31:54] He said, we'll be there as soon as you win. [31:56] I said, we don't need you as soon as we win. [31:59] Before I went in, we called him. [32:02] He said, oh, wow. [32:04] We'll be there. [32:05] This was not Winston Churchill, would you? [32:07] I thought I could tell you. [32:08] But Starmer said, we'll be there. [32:10] Right, Pete? [32:11] As soon as we win. [32:12] As soon as we win, they're going to come and help us. [32:14] Okay? [32:15] But you know what? [32:16] Italy was very bad. [32:18] Italy was very bad. [32:19] And other countries... [32:20] Germany was very bad. [32:22] So we spent all of this money, probably 600... [32:25] I think we spent 600 billion a year, right? [32:29] I would say that. [32:30] I think the real number... [32:31] Think of that. [32:33] The numbers that we spend are so crazy on NATO, and they weren't there for us. [32:39] So I say to Pete, and I say to everybody else, if we're spending all of this money, hundreds, just hundreds of millions of dollars to protect them from Russia, mostly. [32:51] Mostly. [32:53] Okay, so we're spending hundreds of millions of dollars a year. [32:57] You know, the case could be made that we spent all of the money over the years before me. [33:03] I cut it back. [33:04] But listen, we spent all of this money, and then when we want to maybe have help on small stuff... [33:11] This is a small time. [33:12] This is not the big one. [33:14] This is small potatoes. [33:16] They say no, we'd rather not help. [33:18] Stupid thing to say. [33:20] Because we can say that to them, if we want. [33:23] And we might. [33:24] Mr. President, regarding the other... [33:26] It's the one-year anniversary of Operation Midnight Hammer. [33:29] If you could go back in time, is there anything you would do different? [33:32] No. [33:33] Nothing at all? [33:34] The most successful attack that anyone's ever seen with a bomber that totally wiped out their nuclear potential. [33:41] If we didn't do that, you'd have no Israel right now. [33:44] Israel would not exist, and most of the Middle East would not exist. [33:47] They were two weeks away from having a nuclear weapon. [33:50] If we wouldn't have done that, Pete, they would have had a nuclear weapon. [33:53] You want to say something about that? [33:54] Yes, sir. [33:55] I wasn't aware it was one year, but you don't have the situation we have now, a position of strength, [34:00] where Iran's going to give up their nuclear program without Midnight Hammer. [34:04] Which no other country on planet Earth could remotely conceivably pull off that from start to finish. [34:10] 37 hours back and forth. [34:12] Iran never saw it. [34:14] And every munition, precision munition that only we make, hit exactly where we wanted it to. [34:19] And they knew we were coming. [34:20] And they could do nothing about it. [34:21] And they could do nothing about it with their air defenses, which are even further now degraded. [34:25] And that's what everyone misses in the press, and the President's right to call it fake news. [34:29] Because the overwhelming military victory that has been had over Iran is what has set the conditions for them to be at the table with our negotiators. [34:37] And we will ensure, whether it's through a deal or through the War Department, that they never get a nuclear weapon because of this President right here. [34:43] Okay? [34:44] Thank you very much, everyone. [34:45] Thank you, guys. [34:46] Thank you, press. [34:47] Thank you very much. [34:48] Thank you, guys. [34:49] Thank you, guys. [34:50] Thank you, guys. [34:51] Thank you, guys. [34:52] Thank you, guys. [34:53] Thank you, guys. [34:54] Thank you. [34:55] Thank you. [34:56] Thank you. [35:10] Thank you, guys. [35:19] Thank you. [35:20] Thank you, guys. [35:21] Thank you. [35:22] Thank you. [35:23] Thank you. [35:24] Okay, thank you very much everybody. Thank you.